The price of a 16GB iPhone 4 is roughly the same as comparable HTC Incredible, Evo 4G and Nexus One phones. There can be a significant difference in the how much you pay over the life of your contract - what's called Total Cost of Ownership or TCO - for these devices, however, depending on the data plan you use. ZDNet's Apple Core blog pointed out a graphic that the folks at Billshrink worked up to help customers compare the how much each phone will cost in the long run. Bottom line: the 16GB iPhone with the stingier data plan had the cheapest TCO of all phones surveyed, while upgrading to the 2GB data plan made the same phone more expensive than all the other phones with unlimited plans, except for the Incredible.

The sort of obvious problem with this is that it's not a direct comparison: paying $2,959 for an AT&T iPhone 4 over two years with a 2GB cap can't compare to the Sprint Evo 4G's TCO of $2,839 with unlimited data. I'm grandfathered in (for now) to the unlimited plan I had on my iPhone 3G, and I'm still paying $30/month for unlimited data on my 32GB iPhone 4. So, if I just pile the additional costs onto the number BillShrink came up with, my TCO swells to $3,179 over 2 years. Ow.

The chart does also do a pretty good job of showing the features of the different phones, and for people that aren't heavy data users the iPhone 4 actually does come out as a good choice, in contradiction to all the hype about its high costs. But that's the kicker: you have to watch your data usage. A lot of overage charges would balloon the cost up into the Verizon/Incredible range.

eee.. At&t does not have unlimited data anymore... so for new AT&T customers the price of the iPhone 4 will be a lot more than any other carrier.... thats why facetime is restricted for wi-fi only... is not a performance issue is cuz Apple new AT&T was going to eliminate unlimited data. I now some people may not use 2GB a month but I know a lot of people that will... my wife and I both are over 3GB a month each.

I am on AT&T but I can say Sprint's Everything Data 450 plan kicks *** though. On top of 450 minutes to call land lines, unlimited texts, unlimited data, you get unlimited calls to ANY MOBILE PHONES (not just Sprint phones) in the US, Night & Weekend from 7PM-7AM, MobiTV, TeleNav Turn-by-Turn Navigation. All of that for $69.99. If you have the Evo, it is $10 Extra.

eee.. At&t does not have unlimited data anymore... so for new AT&T customers the price of the iPhone 4 will be a lot more than any other carrier.... thats why facetime is restricted for wi-fi only... is not a performance issue is cuz Apple new AT&T was going to eliminate unlimited data. I now some people may not use 2GB a month but I know a lot of people that will... my wife and I both are over 3GB a month each.

The average customer does not use more than the 2GB cap, and so as a result, will pay less than people on other carriers because they're not offering smartphone dataplans less than $29.99.

I think you guys should make a separate post for people who dont even keep the same iPhone for 24 months!
I remember when you guys first did one of these for like the first iPhone....
Kinda pointless for those who upgrade every year.

For what it's worth, new ATT customers are still able to sign the unlimited data package. At least as of yesterday.

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I once prayed to God for an iPhone, but quickly found out He didn't work that way...so I stole an iPhone and prayed for His forgiveness.

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Well I'm grandfathered in on the unlimited plan but even if I was on the 2 gig plan I'm pretty sure I couldn't hit it. I only hit about 500 mb last month using Internet evry day and tethering fairly often to m laptop for YouTube and hulu. But still wow almost 3 grand over 2 years is kinda rediclous if you think about it. But... I still want that iPhone 4.

causes some of these numbers to not apply to some people. I have a 3 family set up, all Iphones. Only $9.99 for the second and third Iphone and all 3 are grandfathered into unlimited data. So MY phone may well cost that, but my spouse and mother no where near that.

The average customer does not use more than the 2GB cap, and so as a result, will pay less than people on other carriers because they're not offering smartphone dataplans less than $29.99.

I will love that AT&T shows the data to support that statement....

Even using the calculator on their website... you easily hit the 2GB mark by only streaming music for 2.5 hours a day., add some youtube videos and some web browsing and your into the 3GB... Thats why you will never see facetime over 3G... it will not happen, Thats why the youtube app in the iphone still loading the low res version of the videos, and its a way for apple to force people to buy music and use the iPod instead of streaming. We will see the data usage for all the people that bought the i4 and start loading 'HD' Videos to youtube. Also this is another way for At&t to kill apps like Google voice and Skype..